Shop vac that doesn't pump dust?

aemeijers · 2007-06-18T01:13:55+00:00

Finally trying to clean out the 20+ years of dirt and dust in the basement, so I can try to get it halfway organized. There used to be a garage bay down there, and I had some concrete cutting done last year for furnace swapout. In the old garage and where the concrete dust was, the shop vac did a good imitation of a smoke machine- the stuff pumped right through the foam filter ring around the motor can. Couldn't see across room, layer of dust on everything, and asthma kicked in within a few minutes. The vac is second-hand cheap junk, but it sucks well. Anybody know a source for, or how to fabricate, a filter cylinder or bag, that will actually slow dust down? Hopefully cheap enough that I can have several on hand, and rotate them as they get plugged up? Idea being that I could then take all the filters outside, hose them clean, and they would be dry in time for the next project?Related question- anybody know a good way to strip old striped foam-backed basement carpet? I pulled back a corner, and it looks like a layer of talc under there. I really don't wanna end up in a hospital from inhaling all that.... (The truck-mounted rig a duct-cleaning company uses comes to mind, but I assume they would charge a fortune, if they would even do it.)aem sends...